1,722,113 research outputs found
Design At the Intersection Among City Challenges, New Public Services, and Policy-Making
No full textSocieties and cities are living in times of deep cultural changes. Design
of course has sought to tackle city societal problems in the past, but this has largely
been confined to design activism (and to the political sphere of the design action).
Its main aim has been to raise awareness of specific problems and/or demonstrate
dissent with mainstream cultures. In the last 10 years, however, there have been
various design initiatives that have worked at city scale to solve societal challenges,
producing reliable and useful solutions and valuable impacts on the life of real
people.
When applied to city challenges, design assumes the practice of complex
participatory processes involving a large number of actors and stakeholders in tense
settings or open conflicts.
Complex participatory processes go beyond the established principle of designing
for context-dependent problems, extending the idea of participation to include
(1) the relation between the context of the problem to be addressed and the design of
the network that will coproduce the solution and (2) testing different configurations
of that network until a robust partnership is individualized and established in some
institutional form.
The contribution relies on the intuition that design can act as an agent of change
for public institutions, which are currently facing new and unmet societal challenges
that appear to affect cities at different levels. These include the quality of the services
offered by municipalities and the way in which public institutions deal with service
innovation in conditions of scarce resources, with new phenomena such as social
innovation. The chapter also introduces a design-led project implemented in the
framework of the My Neighborhood European Project, with a double aim, i.e., to
experiment service design as a tool for designing innovation in the public sector and
to experiment service design as a tool to boost innovation in the culture of a public
institution (the Municipality of Milan)
Wind Tunnel Pressure Series Statistics for the Case of a Large Span Canopy Roof
No full textThis paper investigates pressure coefficient and peak factor statistics for a hyperbolic paraboloid canopy roof used as a tensile structure to cover a soccer arena. The non-Gaussian properties of the pressure coefficient processes are measured at different roof locations for different wind angles of attack. Peak factor statistics, estimated using pressure coefficient time histories experimentally measured in wind tunnel tests and measured on the bottom and on the top of the roof, are compared with corresponding peak factor statistics estimated through use of four analytical models available in the literature, namely the Davenport, classical Hermite, revised Hermite, and translated-peak-process (TPP) models. It was found that: (1) all analytical models underestimate the mean and standard deviations of the experimental peak factors; (2) the non-Gaussianity region is significantly affected by the position on the roof, i.e., up and down, whereas it is less affected by the wind angle; (3) the two Hermite models provide accurate estimates of peak factor mean and standard deviations
Examination of experimental errors in Scanlan derivatives of a closed-box bridge deck
No full textThe objective of the investigation is the analysis of wind-tunnel experimental errors, associated with the measurement of aeroelastic coefficients of bridge decks (Scanlan flutter derivatives). A two-degree-of-freedom experimental apparatus is used for the measurement of flutter derivatives. A section model of a closed-box bridge deck is considered in this investigation. Identification is based on free-vibration aeroelastic tests and the Iterative Least Squares method. Experimental error investigation is carried out by repeating the measurements and acquisitions thirty times for each wind tunnel speed and configuration of the model. This operational procedure is proposed for analyzing the experimental variability of flutter derivatives. Several statistical quantities are examined; these quantities incline the standard deviation and the empirical probability density function of the flutter derivatives at each wind speed. Moreover, the critical flutter speed of the setup is evaluated according to standard flutter theory by accounting for experimental variability. Since the probability distribution of flutter derivatives and critical flutter speed does not seem to obey a standard theoretical model, polynomial chaos expansion is proposed and used to represent the experimental variability
Mafia Vulnerability: Caring for Parents to Ensure Children’s Rights in Family and Social Contexts Affected by Organized Crime
Full text linkThe mafia perpetuates discourses of hate and violence that fuel a cycle of oppression and social disadvantage, exposing children to greater risks and undermining the protection of their rights. Since 2012, the Italian juvenile justice has increasingly focused on contexts affected by mafia presence, implementing protection and care interventions. This article, based on four case studies, analyzes the process of consciousness-raising experienced by three mothers involved in child protection proceedings. The concept of “mafia vulnerability” is introduced as an interpretative framework to understand the impact of mafia culture on children and families, highlighting the specific form of vulnerability they face. The article proposes a pedagogical approach that promotes pathways of emancipation, counters hate speech and supports dignity and human rights
Context dependency of social innovation: in search of new sustainability models
Full text linkIncreasing attention is being paid towards the potential of social innovation (SI) in responding to society’s greatest challenges. While measures have been taken to support the flourishing of these innovations, they have thus far been made on ideal models of development, misaligned with what occurs in reality. This has led to the creation of supporting infrastructures that fail to respond to the real needs of social innovators. The article seeks to provide a picture of the real SI development process through a case-based discussion coming from the results of the SIMPACT European research project. The article will also present areas of improvement and reflection, on which to develop an evidencebased model of SI development. Moreover, it will connect SIs with local conditions that determine their development, suggesting that their growth and diffusion are primarily based on the adaptation to the context rather than on the scaling up mechanisms that characterize for-profits. The article argues that this leads to the necessity for social innovators to find a difficult balance among contradictory needs, and to develop peculiar typologies of business models to make their innovations sustainable
Modeling non-linearity on cable stayed masts of tensile fabric structures
No full textTensile membrane structures are part of a unique technology that gives designers the capability to experiment new forms and new solutions to conventional design problems. These structures are extremely efficient for long span application and allows considerable savings in the foundations and supporting structure costs. Cable stayed masts are integral part of this structure typology and consists of a inclined elements supported by several layers of pre-tensioned cables. Generally their dynamic loading is not a concern in the design of tensile structures, nevertheless in case of massive shafts, their dynamics can play a fundamental role for global behaviour of the structure. Therefore pre-tensioning force on supporting cables system is an important issue since the internal force distribution, significantly affects their structural dynamic behaviour. A non-linear cable model, combined with the taut-cable theory has been employed to simulate the non-linearity conditions in the stays and cables, by using a restoring-force equivalent spring model to replicate the behaviour of each cable. In the present paper a simplified based displacement technique is utilized to examine the non-linear dynamics of the system. The proposed approach, based on energetic method Equivalent Linearization method (ELM), shows a robust simplified technique capable to linearize the non-linear system, taking into account of slackening effects of pre-tensioned stays. It is concluded that performance coefficient and linearized frequency, may possibly be used as useful indicators for designing pre-tensioned cable stayed masts where a suitable selection of the initial pre-tensioning force can effectively improve dynamic performance of the system
Uncertainties in wind-induced loads on hyperbolic paraboloid roofs: Wind-tunnel tests and analytical models
No full textThe design coefficients provided by a wind-tunnel campaign on in-scale models, e.g. the pressure coefficients discussed in this paper, are always affected by physiological and unavoidable uncertainties. On the other hand, wind-induced loads at the real scale (e.g. peak pressure coefficients) may be provided, with a prescribed confidence level, by analytical models that include stochastic characteristics of the wind field (mean values, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis) obtained by wind-tunnel tests. Based on aerodynamic tests on hyperbolic paraboloid models in the boundary layer wind-tunnel of the CRIACIV (Italy), this paper discusses a typical example of experimental uncertainties, i.e. the asymmetries measured for geometries and wind directions nominally symmetric, and investigates their effects on peak pressure coefficients provided by analytical models. To this aim, experimental peak pressure coefficients and their analytical prediction are compared for symmetrical geometries under wind flow direction parallel to the symmetry axis, and it is noted that asymmetries shown by experimental tests may be reduced by appropriate analytical models, that can therefore contribute to filter out the effects of experimental uncertainties for design purposes
Aeroelastic Response of Suspended Pedestrian Bridges Made of Laminated Wood and Hemp
Full text linkThe work described in this paper investigated, by calculating critical flutter speed, the aeroelastic response of suspended pedestrian bridges made of a laminated wood structure and hemp cables and compared them to bridges with a steel structure and harmonic steel cables. Critical flutter speed was estimated using a numerical two degree of freedom (2-DOF) generalized deck model based on finite-element modal analysis. The critical flutter speeds of two sets of 25 different structural configurations, obtained by varying the deck chord and the permanent deck loads, made of steel and of laminated wood respectively, were estimated using experimental flutter derivatives obtained from 30 wind tunnel experiments. One of the most significant results was that pedestrian bridges made of laminated wood and hemp have a higher torsional frequency than those made of steel and that this affects critical flutter speed. A case study was performed and discussed by analyzing the structural and aeroelastic response of a 250 m pedestrian bridge with a 12 m deck chord and two approximately 32 m tall towers
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